Are Government documents in a library classified as Library of Congress?

Answer

If you do visit a Federal Depository Library, chances are that you will not find their government information organized by the Dewey Decimal classification system -- or the Library of Congress classification system. Instead, you may encounter the "SuDocs" classification system. SuDocs is named from the Superintendent of Documents -- the person and office who heads the Federal Depository Library Program portion of GPO.

The SuDocs system classifies government publications by the agencies (and offices within an agency) who issue a particular publication. A SuDocs number begins with one or two letters which stand for the issuing agency. For example, publications issued by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture begin with the letter "A" -- those issued by the Dept. of Defense begin with the letter "D" -- those issued from the Dept. of Interior begin with the letter "I" etc.

After the letter(s), a SuDocs number will then contain arbitrary numbers which represent offices or sub-agencies within the main agency. For example, publications from the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture's Forest Service will be classified and shelved with a stem that starts out A 13. Publications issued by USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will begin with a stem of A 101. Publications issued by the Dept. of Interior's Geological Survey will begin with a stem of I 19. Publications issued by the Dept. of Interior's National Park Service will begin with a stem of I 29.

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